Just a Little Longer
by Grand Admiral Harmon
Summary: One shot. Takes place during "Entity". An alien entity has taken over Sam Carter and Jack is forced to fire upon her. What goes through his mind when he makes this decision?


One shot.

During the episode **Entity**, Major Samantha Carter is taken over by a alien entity in the alien's retaliatory attack on the SGC after a probe they sent accidently started causing damage to it's planet. Commander of her team, Colonel Jack O'Niell is forced between stopping her the only way he can and letting her go. This is what goes through his mind as he makes that decision.

I know she's not Carter. I know she's not. Fraiser said she had been suppressed by the alien inside her. But, as I look at her, how can I bring myself to shoot her?

_"I am assigning Captain Sam Carter to your team Colonel."_

_"I'd prefer to make my own team, sir."_

_"Not this time."_

_"Where is he transferring from?"_

_"_She_ is transferring from the Pentagon. Captain Samantha Carter reporting for duty."_

Three S.F.s are blocking her one escape route. Daniel stands next to me, General Hammond behind me. Teal'c is also nearby. She looks back and forth, clearly trapped.

_I awake from a sleep. Carter is standing over me with the others._

_"Did I just get rolled?" I ask._

_"Appears so sir," she replies._

It has to be me. I've got the Zat in my hand. I have to stop her.

"Hold it!" I shout.

She looks at me, hatred in her eyes. Pure hatred. I have never seen her with hate in her eyes.

_We are on Aphosis ship, speeding towards Earth. _

_"Did you plant the C-4?"_

_"Oh yeah," she replies._

_"So how long will it take us to get there to Earth?" I ask._

_"We are going ten times the speed of light O'Niell," Teal'c answers._

_"We shouldn't get there before the year is over," Carter remarks._

She lifts her hands to the ceiling, and electrical charges leap from her fingers tips. Her body jolts every few seconds, and explosions leap from the conduits.

"Stop!"

I press the trigger that extends the weapon. It has to be me. There can be no other way. I have to shoot.

Please, I beg silently, don't make me shoot you.

She looks at me, and if looks could kill, she would have shattered me. And she does shatter me. Carter might be in there. Screaming to be free. But she isn't free.

I fire the shot. It hits her body and wraps around, the blue-white energy coiling around her. It stops her only briefly. She glares at me again and raises her hands.

"STOP!" I scream but she begins to zap the ceiling again.

_"Sir," she begs, "There is no time."_

_A force field is between us. Barely an inch of bluey energy. Energy that won't let me get to her. Stupid wristbands didn't give us the boost it was suppose to give us._

_"I'm not leaving you Carter," I say, hitting the field with a rod._

_"Sir, just go," she pleads._

_"No!"_

"NO!"

I fire a second shot, and it hits her. Her body slowly arches and falls slowly to the ground, her arms falling out underneath her. Her cheek lands on her arm as she hits the ground. I look down at her body, and all I want to do is scream.

One shot stuns. Two shots kill. And she is down for the count.

_"We aren't Zatargs sir," she says._

_I raise my eyebrow, "You sure? But the test-"_

_"We lied," she says simply._

_"No we didn't," I protest._

_"We didn't tell them everything."_

_"Yeah we did."_

_"We haven't admitted what with our current proffessions won't allow us to admit," she says slowly._

_Only then does it dawn on me. "Oh."_

"Are you alright O'Niell?" Teal'c says, hands behing his back.

"No," I say softly, "No, I'm not alright."

**Seven hours later**

I have sat by her side these seven hours. It is well past midnight. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I can't even go to the bathroom. The life has simply disappeared from me. To see her, so strong, brought to so helpless.

Doctor Fraiser walks into the room, the lights low. They turned off most of the lights.

"Are you still here Colonel?" she asks, looking at me.

"I can't leave her," I say softly, too softly for her to hear.

"Any changes?" Fraiser asks.

"No," I can't even shake my head, "Nothing."

There is a slight, hesistant pause from the good doctor. "Sir," she says slowly, "Major Carter has no EG readings. The alien entity that inhabited her is gone, and so is her. She isn't anything more then a vegetable. These life support systems are the only thing keeping her alive. I think we have to pull the plug."

My heart plummets. No, anything but that. Sure, she might not be here, but her body is still. The physical is here. I might not believe in God, but I believe if anyone can beat the odds, it's her. Sam.

"A little more time," I manage to get out, "Just a little longer."

Fraiser looks at me for a second. She is calculating a fitting response. She's the doctor. She should be able to do what is nessecary. But, she nods and says, "Alright Colonel."

"Just a little longer," I whisper to myself as she walks out of the room.


End file.
